the state apparatus desires to murder Muslims for various reasons, so it disseminates propaganda to lessen domestic public resistance to this brutal programme, which in turn leads to a seemingly indigenous anti-Islamism.

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“They cheated us again and again, made decisions behind our back, presenting us with completed facts. That’s the way it was with the expansion of NATO in the East, with the deployment of military infrastructure at our borders. They always told us the same thing: 'Well, this doesn't concern you.'" -Vladimir Putin

I don't believe a single individual in the west has ever been prejudice against Muslims. It's nothing more than a ploy by liberals to gain sympathy from their base. Actually, that was an exaggeration, but it's no worse than anti-semitism or anti-Christian attitudes. 9/11 contributed alot to anti-Islam.

In the American example, I reckon 9/11 was a significant factor but major news providers played an inadvertent part in stoking anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments by allowing profit motive to compel them to air disproportionately negative, sensationalized, unbalanced stories concerning Muslims and countries in which they constitute a majority group. The general public, not familiar with this religious minority residing in their country, nor the values and social norms widespread in far off lands, was vulnerable to consuming biased, pre-digested information on these matters.

The government itself did not help, for many officials are beholden to ethnocentric views and as a consequence often pursued strictly self-interested policies pertinent to countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan with insufficient thought given to how said policies would be perceived abroad. Whenever there was a misstep or mutual misunderstanding resulting in elevated anti-American sentiments the media reported on it without enough understanding and context provided to an audience mostly unaware of what folks in those countries think and believe - much less why. On the home front, meanwhile, reporting on the wars and terrorism eventually managed to paint dark portraits of Muslims and Arabs that do very few of them justice. Stories involving any of the tens of millions of relatively normal Muslims weren't as good for ratings, and while some parts of the media provided fairer depictions of them it did not offer a heavy enough counterbalance, in my opinion.

Also, bigots will be bigots. Many of them are wrapped up in an us-versus-them mindset about perceived out-groups. When 9/11, the two wars, and major news providers' handling of current events are combined they send a signal to such folks that their way of life is in danger. Their suspicions gain legitimacy when leaders they look to for guidance speak of the grave peril posed to American society by Islamic fundamentalists, extremists, and Islamists. American Muslims and Arabs have become easy (i.e. minority group) targets for persecution since they are unlikely to strongly retaliate and, being blinded by ignorance, the aggressors fail to grasp that almost nobody in those groups are really aligned with the Enemy. This is a recurring theme in history, with each era apparently featuring groups widely misunderstood, marginalized, and discriminated against.

I do not know to what extent how many Americans' perceptions of Islam and its adherents have been skewed, and to what extent, but the problem now is that it is so much easier to make people suspicious of and worried about the cultural and security-related impacts of unfamiliar minority groups in their midst than it is to bridge cultural gaps and forge enduring intergroup trust and friendships. For European anti-Islamic sentiments, however, I lack a firm opinion for the time being.

I would assume that Islamic terrorism and killing of US soldiers plays a bigger part in the rise of US anti-Islamism.

I believe you assume correctly, sir.

Verbal sex change operation ;-)

My pardons for the assumption. Quite unfortunately we don't get many of the fairer sex coming to the forum.

That's interesting. How many females do we have here? From the tone and nick names I've seen and responded to, I'm not sure if I remember any of them being women?

One. Before politicus joined, zero.

Oh wow, that's less than I thought. Come to think of it, there was a female bitching about Santorum being a bad father and women being thought of as bad if they were like him having a sick child. Is that who you're referring to?

Red - the beautiful color of bloodFlowing like a streamWhite - the color of bleaching boneLovely and obsceneBlue - the bruising color of fleshBattered, ripped and tornThe colors of the flag of hateOf violence and pornWhat you see is what you getYou haven't see the bloody trail yetI'm no patriot, just a hate-triot

You didn't saw how they we're killing rams.And I have a fear that one day I will wake up in a Moscowbad.

Logged

Red - the beautiful color of bloodFlowing like a streamWhite - the color of bleaching boneLovely and obsceneBlue - the bruising color of fleshBattered, ripped and tornThe colors of the flag of hateOf violence and pornWhat you see is what you getYou haven't see the bloody trail yetI'm no patriot, just a hate-triot

“They cheated us again and again, made decisions behind our back, presenting us with completed facts. That’s the way it was with the expansion of NATO in the East, with the deployment of military infrastructure at our borders. They always told us the same thing: 'Well, this doesn't concern you.'" -Vladimir Putin